1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Display devices are devices that visually display data. Examples of the display devices include liquid crystal displays (LCDs), electrophoretic displays, organic light-emitting displays, inorganic electroluminescent (EL) displays, field emission displays, surface-conduction electron-emitter displays, plasma displays, and cathode ray displays.
Of the above display devices, LCDs are one of the most widely used types of display devices. Generally, an LCD includes a pair of display panels having electric field generating electrodes, such as pixel electrodes and common electrodes, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the display panels. In an LCD, voltages are applied to electric field generating electrodes to generate an electric field. Accordingly, the liquid crystal molecules of a liquid crystal layer are aligned, and polarization of incident light is controlled. As a result, a desired image is displayed on the LCD.
In a vertical alignment (VA) mode LCD, liquid crystal molecules are arranged with the main director of the molecules being perpendicular to the upper and lower display panels when no electric field is applied to the liquid crystal molecules. VA mode LCDs are popular due to their high contrast ratios and wide standard viewing angles. However, a drawback of the VA mode LCD is that it may have relatively poor lateral visibility compared to frontal visibility. To overcome this drawback, each pixel may be partitioned into two subpixels, and a switching device may be formed in each subpixel. Then, a different voltage may be applied to each subpixel.
In such a conventional LCD, however, two subpixels to which different voltages are applied are separated from each other. Therefore, texture is created at a boundary between the two subpixels.
To prevent the creation of the texture, a gap between the two subpixels may be reduced. However, it is difficult to reduce the gap to below a certain level due to the limited process capability of current mass production facilities.
Alternatively, a voltage applied to one of the two subpixels may be reduced to prevent the creation of the texture. However, a reduction in the voltage inevitably results in a reduction in the luminance (i.e., light transmittance) of the display device.